Martin Taylor (GM)

Martin Taylor is Chairman of Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture "and the non-executive Chairman of the Board of Syngenta. He is an adviser to Goldman Sachs International and a Vice-Chairman of RTL Group SA. He was formerly Chief Executive Officer of Courtaulds Textiles and of Barclays plc . For five years he was a member of the British Government’s Council for Science and Technology and Chairman of the Commission set up by the UK Institute of Public Policy Research on public/private partnerships...

"Martin Taylor's career has spanned the worlds of finance, industry, public policy and journalism. After studying Chinese at Oxford University he worked for Reuters in Paris, Frankfurt and London, before moving to the Financial Times where he wrote for the Lex column. In 1982, at the age of 30, he went to work for Courtaulds plc, becoming responsible for the textile division in 1987. This business was spun off as Courtaulds Textiles plc in 1990 with Martin as its Chief Executive. At the end of 1993 he became CEO of Barclays plc and served there for five years.

"Since 1999 he has been an adviser to Goldman Sachs International, where he chairs the asset management company and the audit and compliance committee. He has held non-executive posts at the British retailer WHSmith plc (Chairman, 1999-2003), the Luxembourg-based media company RTL Group sa, where he is currently Vice Chairman, and the US biotech company Antigenics Inc. He chairs the pension trust at WHSmith.

"He has advised the British Government on a number of financial policy issues, and was for five years a member of its Council for Science and Technology. He was also Chairman of the Commission set up by the UK Institute of Public Policy Research on public/private partnerships."


 * Chair, Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture